Page 5 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised

Abraham did grow up at the peak of his prosperity, leaving to follow the Lord would be quite an act of
faith. Now let’s turn to the government structure of Ancient Mesopotamia.
Government in Ancient Mesopotamia:

Despite the seeming backwardness we often seem to assume was the case in
ancient civilizations, Ur was at the forefront of technology and power when
Abraham would have known it. Its leader, Ur-Nammu, had managed to take Uruk
from its leader and founded what became known as the third dynasty. Ur-Nammu
conquered the regions of Sumer and Akkad as well as the regions beyond. He
established various regions which were administered by military leaders he had
selected. They would rule under his authority. A system of roads existed, which
made travel and carrying messages much easier. As a result, in Abraham’s time, Ur
seems to have been in control of trade and commerce. The government often
codified laws similar to what they do today. Once such law code we have was
carved in stone and was found by archeologists, this stone is the famous Code of
Hammurabi seen in the picture above. If you look closely below the two figures there is ancient writing
recording the laws.

Now let’s look at the religious practices and thoughts of Ancient Mesopotamia.

Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia:
In the time of Abraham, the people of Mesopotamia, specifically in Ur, were polytheistic. This means
they worshipped many gods. We are told that Abraham’s own father had many gods he worshipped.
Joshua 24:2 confirms this “And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long
ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they
served other gods.” (ESV) According to John Walton, these gods were formed through function. If it did
not rain, you would try to identify the God that needed to be appeased. If the appeasement worked,
and it rained, you added that god to your list of gods. Many in ancient Sumer had family and personal
gods. If following a personal god paid off, you kept following that God. This practice can help us
understand why when Abraham was told by God to leave and go to a place God would show him,
Abraham obeyed. In their culture, this may not have been unusual.

Religious life centered around the temple. In the time of Abraham, there were resting places for the
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gods known as Ziggurats. This picture is an aerial view of the ziggurat at Ur.

It is a common misconception that the ziggurat was a temple. According to John Walton, the
Ziggurat was a multi-tiered structure (some seven levels high) with a building on top. This building was a
house. It was the resting place for the god of that ziggurat. The temple of that god would be nearby at
the base. When the od was deemed to “need a break,” the image of the god would be carried to the
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house on top until it was time to bring it back down. This reconstruction of a ziggurat makes the layout

3 John Holmes. Biblical Backgrounds Course Notes.
4 John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the
Hebrew Bible, second ed. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group,
2018), 79.

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